Video: Green Infrastructure in the Gauteng City-Region

As the population, economy and urban built environment in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) expand, government is increasingly under pressure to provide urban infrastructure to support growth. It is more and more important that this infrastructure is sustainable to minimise the negative environmental impacts often associated with traditional forms of urban development. Green Infrastructure (GI) can achieve this. GI is the interconnected set of natural and man-made ecological systems, green spaces and other landscape features that provide services and strategic functions in the same way as traditional infrastructure. In harnessing the benefits of ecosystem services, GI is a more efficient, cost effective and sustainable alternative – and sometimes accompanying approach – to conventional forms of infrastructure.

This explainer video on ‘Green Infrastructure in the Gauteng City-Region’ provides an introduction to the concept and value of green infrastructure and builds on the GCRO’s ongoing Green Assets & Infrastructure project. The overall objective of the project is to influence the approach to green asset management by assessing the extent to which GI has been valued by various stakeholders in the city-region, and by demonstrating ways to incorporate GI within government budgeting and planning processes.